The Journey To The Manger, part 2
Last week, we talked about the journey that took place, through the blood line of Jesus, to get to the manger.
And how God had used all kinds of different people, men and women.
some less then perfect, truth be known, they were all less than perfect, we all are
But none the less, they were all willing participants and they all had at least 2 things in common with each other,
They all had a love for the things of God and they all had the faith,
that He would follow through with everything that He said He would do and keep His Promises!
As we study this part of the journey, Mary and Joseph were no exception to the rule,
they must have been extraordinary, in the eyes of God.
Think about it, To have the honor of being selected to be the participants, in the most important event in the history of the world,
Mary to be the mother of the promised Messiah and Joseph, to be Jesus earthly father
So many prophecies had been made concerning the coming Messiah and all of them, up to that point had be fulfilled.
And now Mary and Joseph were about to make the final leg of the Journey!
Luke 2:1-5 NKJ
1. And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
2. This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.
3. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.
4. Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
5. to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife,[a] who was with child.
Caius Caesar Octavianus Augustus, for centuries, the emperors of Rome had ruled the civilized world with great power!
Nation after nation had fallen victim to the Romans and their Army,
One of those nations was Syria and one of the provinces in Syria was Judea,
the home of the remnant of the Jews of the nation of Israel.
The Jews who lived in Judea were oppressed greatly,
Israel had disobeyed God and fallen into apostasy and idolatry.
And thus, God had not spoken to his own people, His chosen nation for 400 years.
For 4 centuries, not one Prophet or one word from God, had appeared in Israel.
There was a famine in the Land of Israel. Not a famine of food or drink,
but of the Word of God and the presence of God.
Can you imagine, for even one day, a world without the presence of God in it?
They had lost everything, Israel had long ago been robbed of its wealth and power.
All the individual citizens had been taxed heavily to support the Roman Government
and to fill the pockets of the governors and rulers that Rome had put into place,
without any consideration of what the people thought.
Kind of sounds like it is still today, huh?
The more things change in the world, the more they seem the same, don’t they?
This was the atmosphere of the world, that Jesus was getting ready to be a part of.
Caesar had ordered that all the land of Judea should be counted in a census,
so that no one would escape the new taxation to support the lavish Roman government.
To make matters worse, every man who lived in the Land of Judea had to return to his place of birth to register for the census.
This is a key part of the story about the Journey, You see, Jesus according to bible prophecy, was to born in Bethlehem,
However Joseph and Mary, were living in Nazareth, some 70 miles away from Bethlehem.
The whole ordeal of the census, must have caused great concern for Joseph,
Because, he knew that someway, somehow, he needed to make the long and dangerous journey,
He had no doubt done many times, but never under these circumstances, to his hometown of Bethlehem.
It was going to be a difficult journey, considering he didn’t have much money and there was no public transportation,
People in those days, pretty much walked everywhere they went,
There were no frequent flier miles, no restaurants or motels along the way, and even if there would have been,
there was no extra money for something like that.
The roads were long and hard, who are we kidding, they were made of dirt,
There was no way of knowing, what kind of dangers lurked around the corner.
It’s a journey that would have been bad enough taking with an army battalion, let alone by yourself,
To make matters worse, the woman that Joseph loved, was 9 months pregnant
and in no condition to walk 70 miles, through the desert and mountains of the countryside.
One thing Joseph did own, was a donkey. Can you imagine poor Mary?,
Nine months with child and going the ride 70 miles on the back of a donkey!
It would have been nice, if she wouldn’t have had to make the trip, but Mary had to go.
She couldn’t stay behind, because the circumstances of her pregnancy were questionable to many who knew her.
Mary and Joseph knew that God had blessed them with this child and that God would take care of them on the journey.
But, those of Nazareth, especially the hard line Jews, felt that Mary had
committed a sin worthy of death by stoning because she was pregnant and wasn’t married.
Very few were willing to accept the wild stories they had heard,
that God had caused Mary to be with child without any man being involved.
Everyone won’t always believe what God is doing in your life, or where He is taking you to, in your walk with Him!
I’m sure, Joseph worried over the condition of Mary and the long, hard journey ahead
But probably worried more about what might happen to her, if he were to leave her behind.
There was no other option, she just had to go with him and they would have to trust God to help them make the journey to Bethlehem safely.
I don’t know if they realized it or not, but this trip was part of bible prophecy, right there in the making.
There was no one or no thing, going to interfere with the plans God had made to bring His Son into the world.
The World needed a Savior and God sent His only Son, to be born of a virgin,
so the World could believe in Him, accept Him and obtain salvation.
Why was it necessary for Jesus
to be born of a virgin?
Genesis 3:15, "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel."
As you know, Satan entered into the garden and began his temptation by speaking to Eve.
Through her sin and ultimately, the sin of Adam, the state of innocence into which man was created, ceased to exist
and Satan’s reign over the souls of men began.
As a result, God the Father in Heaven, had to provide a living, blood sacrifice, to overcome the power of sin once and for all,
In order to re-establish a path to redemption with all mankind,
whom God loved so dearly and whom God had personally made in His own image with His own hands.
In this verse in Genesis, God promised vengeance upon the serpent (Satan) through the seed of the woman.
Man was to have no part in the promise of the coming Messiah, that would save the world.
There was to be a human being born of the flesh but this man was to be born of a woman alone.
Without the participation of a man, as God designed the family in the beginning, there could be no child brought forth.
But, if a man were to have part in the bringing forth of the Savior, then the Savior would not have been any more of God than you or I.
The birth had to come from a virgin woman who had never known a man, just as TBS(the bible said).
Therefore, it is by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit that God formed the child in the womb of a virgin,
this would become the son, named Emmanuel, or God With Us!
This would be God’s son, born of a virgin, who would come to bruise the head of Satan……
He would be a child born of flesh and of Spirit, like no other would ever be…..
Jesus would be born of the Virgin Mary in the city of Bethlehem.
And why would Jesus be born in the tiny village of Bethlehem?
Because Gods Word had proclaimed it, hundreds and thousands of years before,
Micah 5:2 NKJ
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."
The choice of this small town in Judea was no accident either.
How many of you know, that God does nothing by accident.
The very name of the town, Bethlehem, means “Place of Flesh”.
To fulfill prophecy and to make His point known,
God brings forth His only son, born as a man of flesh, in the “city of flesh”, from the womb of the virgin.
John 3:16-17 NKJ
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."
All of the planning, all the effort, all the details and care God put forth into His Son Jesus birth, was for one single purpose.
So that His Son Jesus, through His life and death on the cross,
could offer salvation and forgiveness of sin, to all who would believe.
From the beginning, God had ordained and planned that this time would come.
And now, the fullness of time had come and it was time for Jesus to be born.
God had set His great plan of salvation into motion and now every step that man took and every decision that men were to make,
would be for the purpose of bringing to pass the promise of God, that a Savior would be given.
So with a love for God, a love for each other and the faith that they shared together,
they packed up what belongings they had and set off on the journey of a lifetime,
with God preparing the way, every step of the way of the journey.
I can’t help but think, that God showered them with His Grace and Mercy, all along the way.
All of heaven, was watching with great anticipation,
He went ahead of them and prepared the way, making sure their every need was taken care of.
Some Historians say, the trip could have taken up to as much as two weeks to complete,
Maybe one day we will come to know, all the miracles that God provided along the way on the Journey to the Manger.
This Christmas season, lets us remember the real reason why we celebrate this time each year.
Its not all the tinsel, or the extravagant meals, or the time with family and friends, or the getting and giving of gifts.
Those things are all wonderful, in and that of themselves, BUT………!
We celebrate this time of year, contrary to what the minority and the media may tell you, for this one fact alone!
Because Jesus was born of a virgin and came to this earth so that we could be saved from an eternity without God.
The accuser, fought hard so long ago, because he knew the end result would be his demise
and he has been at it, ever since.
Today we can see it all around us, he is harder at work, then he has ever been!
Help make a difference this year and tell someone about the true story and meaning of Christmas,
Give the greatest gift ever known to all of man kind,
The gift of Salvation, the gift of the miracle of Jesus,
the gift that makes all of Heaven Rejoice, when someone receives it!
The gift of Eternal Life, Praise God?!
Lets Pray for souls for the Lord, that’s why were here you know.
Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere, Go tell it on the mountain, that Jesus Christ is Born!
Special thanks to James May
